Villa Tugendhat, Brno: Mies's Glass House and Its Chairs

On a hillside in Brno, a discreet street-side façade hides one of the most luxurious houses of the modern movement. Villa Tugendhat is where Mies van der Rohe proved that steel and glass could be sumptuous.

A commission, an exile

Fritz and Grete Tugendhat, textile industrialists, entrusted their house to Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, who designed it with Lilly Reich in 1929-1930. They lived there for only eight years: as Jews, they left Czechoslovakia in 1938. Then came the Gestapo, the Soviet army, a dance school. Listed by UNESCO in 2001, the villa was restored from 2010 to 2012 to its original state.

What you see there

A single, uninterrupted living space, punctuated by chromed cruciform columns, a wall of golden onyx that catches fire at sunset and a curved partition of Macassar ebony around the dining area. The great windows sink into the floor by an electric mechanism. The furniture was designed for the house: the Tugendhat armchair, on a cantilever base, and the Brno chair, in flat or tubular steel with taut leather. Knoll still makes them.

What it teaches

That a rare material can serve as a partition: onyx and ebony separate without closing off. And that modern luxury is judged by the section of the metal and the finish of the leather, not by ornament. One precious wall, and the rest may stay white.

Visiting

The villa can be seen by guided tour only, by reservation, often several months in advance.

Spotted a Brno chair or a Tugendhat armchair in an office? Scan it on Beyit: Knoll edition or copy, year, value.